In Contention

Category: Daily

  • 12/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Truth behind ‘Speech,’ Mara on ‘Tattoo’ remake and a new breed of film director

    • The real story behind ‘The King’s Speech.’ [Speakeasy]

    • John Lopex has exclusive video on the making of “Black Swan”‘s production of “Swan Lake.” [Little Gold Men]

    • How “The Long Walk” became “The Way Back.” [BBC]

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  • ‘Social Network’ wins with D.C. critics

    The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association will officially announce its winners tomorrow (after releasing a list of nominees yesterday), but we’ve got them for you in advance at The Circuit.

    David Fincher’s “The Social Network” took the Film/Director/Screenplay trifecta, while Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” was the big winner over all, taking four awards including Best Original Screenplay.

    Also notable was Melissa Leo and Christian Bale’s wins in the supporting categories, a one-two punch for “The Fighter” that could well be reflected by the Academy in a couple of months.  Meanwhile, “The Town” has taken its second ensemble award (along with last week’s National Board of Review honor).  Could this all be prelude to a SAG ensemble nod and, eventually, a Best Picture nomination?  I’m thinking yes.

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  • D.C. critics apparently saw only 33 films this year

    I have to say, this year’s list of awards nominees from the Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association is even more uninspired and Oscar-guessing than last year’s slate.  But they kick off the critics’ awards circuit nevertheless.

    Winners will be announced Monday, but I imagine “The Social Network,” which racked up a field-leading eight nominations, will be declared Best Film and continue to be rather dominant as the critics’ darling of the year.  The Oscar question, however, is whether the critics can force the issue like they did last year.

    Or is there just not a sexy enough narrative as 2009’s battle of the exes to get it there?

    You know what I think.  But anyway, head on over to The Circuit to see what they’re springing for in the nation’s capital.

    [Photo: Columbia Pictures]

  • CINEJABBER: Peace settled across the galaxy

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    It’s been a busy week.  It’s snowing back home and boy do I wish I were there for that, but I’m spending the afternoon on the phone with the “True Grit” crew, so I can’t complain.

    It’s like the Oscar Season Film Festival in my house these days as I push through the remaining screeners of films that slipped through the cracks all year.  In some cases three films in a day.  Finally last night I watched something top 10 worthy (to say the least), but there’s still quite a few to push through, all in preparation for Friday’s top 10 podcast.  (Trying to cover all bases.)

    I’m such a perfectionist about stupid stuff that I literally sat down and racked my brain last night trying to decide what was honestly my favorite cartoon character from childhood (for the on-going Facebook movement against child abuse).  I mean, is Batman considered a “cartoon character?”  Yeah, there was the animated series, but still.  Then I thought maybe Beavis and Butt-Head, but that’s early 90s and late middle school, so it doesn’t really fit “childhood.”

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  • ‘Waste Land’ wins IDA feature award

    Lucy Walker and company’s film beat out fellow AMPAS doc short-lister “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” The other winners at The Circuit.

  • ‘The Beaver’ trailer

    Everyone has been wondering what will come of Jodie Foster’s “The Beaver” ever since Mel Gibson went flying off the rails earlier this year.  The film is set for a Spring 2011 release and many in the know seemed to think Gibson could have been an awards play for his performance in the film amid other circumstances.  The trailer has just been released via Apple, however, so we all finally get a look at what the troubled actor was up to.  Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump..

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  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Black Swan’

    Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” opens in eight cities today, so a considerable portion of our audience finally gets a look at the film (and at the attached trailer for “The Tree of Life,” for that matter).  We’ve been discussing it since it bowed at Venice (where Guy gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up) and Telluride (where I caught up with it).  And you can expect some interviews with those involved later in the season, but for now, we’d love to hear your thoughts.  If you’re able to catch it this weekend, head on back here and give us your take (or re-visit this post when the film reaches your neck of the woods).

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Precursors begin, ‘Grit’ unveiled and Oscar hosts tapped

    • The biggest news of this busy week may well have been the announcement of James Franco and Anne Hathaway as this year’s Oscarcast hosts.

    • Unless you count “The Social Network” dominating the National Board of Review as bigger news, that is.

    • Or, for that matter, our first look at the Coen brothers’ “True Grit.”

    • Speaking of which, Kris reported on the current eligibility status of Carter Burwell’s score (still up in the air).

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  • Oscar host James Franco fulfills a dream

  • PGA nominates documentaries

    Via press release, the nominees are:

    “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”
    “Earth Made of Glass”
    “Inside Job”
    “Smash His Camera”
    “The Tillman Story”
    “Waiting for Superman”

  • 12/3 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Black Swan’ costumes, Tarantino roasted, ‘Harry Potter’ tries for Oscar one more time

    • David Poland writes up the history of Oscar coverage. [Movie City News]

    • Costume designs from Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Daily Telegraph]

    • Paula Schwartz reports from the Friars Club Roast of Quentin Tarantino. [The Carpetbagger]

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  • ‘Social Network’ wins big with NBR

    The National Board of Review announcement is historically considered the “official” start of the film awards season, but with things like the Gotham Awards, Indie Spirit nominations and even the Hollywood Film Awards creeping more and more into mid-fall, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

    Today the organization announced winners in the usual categories, winners to be honored at a New York ceremony in January.  Last year the organization picked “Up in the Air” as its Best Film winner, greatly solidifying the buzz of early December 2009.  This year, they’ve gone with David Fincher’s “The Social Network.”

    The film also took home awards for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).  Most exciting for me is to see that Lesley Manville won Best Actress for her performance in “Another Year.” The flames seemed to be dying as of late.  Christian Bale and Jacki Weaver won in the supporting races for “The Fighter” and “Animal Kingdom,” respectively.

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  • Robert Duvall takes aim at “actor’s enemy” Stanley Kubrick

    It was interesting this morning to see Robert Duvall’s recent comments on Stanley Kubrick’s process with actors making the rounds.  Duvall chimed in with trademark candor at The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Round Table when the issue of exhaustive takes came up.  “The Social Network” director David Fincher is known for doing quite a few, and Kubrick was infamous for it.

    The actor called the work of Kubrick actors “the worst performances I’ve ever seen in movies” and even went so far as to call the director an “actor’s enemy.”  I’d maintain that Kubrick’s films have rarely been about performance above formalism, but that’s me.  Though the comments did remind me of a similar aside I had with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

    I sat down with the “Inception” and “Shutter Island” star over the weekend to discuss, mainly, the latter and his work with director Martin Scorsese over the years.  In the midst of detailing his on-set process with the director, DiCaprio went off on a small tangent about the potential value of exhaustive takes and I thought it would make a nice rebuttal to Duvall’s point of view.  Check out the audio after the jump.

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  • Annual Fox holiday bash draws filmmakers and talent

    20th Century Fox held its annual holiday party on the roof of the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills last night. It afforded a good opportunity to corral press members into a tight space with talent from the studio’s five awards season contenders.

    Newly tapped Oscar host Anne Hathaway was on hand (with “Love & Other Drugs” co-star Jake Gyllenhaal), but her co-host James Franco couldn’t make it.  I chatted briefly with “127 Hours” director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, as well as “Never Let Me Go” composer Rachel Portman (who seemed quite prim and shy).  I know “Conviction” screenwriter Pamela Gray was making the rounds but I never got a chance to say hi.

    I did, however, finally meet one of the cinematographers from “127 Hours,” Enrique Chediak.  And as we were talking, a publicist tapped me on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to talk to Anthony Dod Mantle?”  Of course I would, so I turned and staring back at me was Mantle live via Skype from Cape Town, South Africa, where he’s currently filming Pete Travis’s “Judge Dredd” reboot with Karl Urban.

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  • 12/2 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Hickenlooper’s photo diary, the race’s generation gap and the ‘My Dog Tulip’ Oscar campaign

    • Anne Thompson has George Hickenlooper’s “Casino Jack” photo diary. [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Patrick Goldstein writes up the “My Dog Tulip” Oscar campaign. [The Big Picture]

    • Vincent Cassel on “Black Swan,” movie overkill and the politics of selling out. [Movieline]

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  • Eligibility of Burwell’s ‘Grit’ score still up in the air

    Anne Thompson is reporting in her “True Grit” review that Carter Burwell’s score from the film is ineligible for Academy consideration due to elements being based on hymns of the period.  However, this is not official, first and foremost because the score hasn’t even been submitted to the Academy’s music branch yet.

    I’m told there are 22 minutes of original score in the film and that the score submitted to AMPAS will have 29 tracks on it.  There are six hymns on the commercial soundtrack release, but those obviously won’t be included in the submission.

    Also worth pointing out is there are no rules regarding length of original material.  In 2006 “Babel” had about 20 minutes of original score from composer Gustavo Santaolalla and it won the Oscar.

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  • Predicting the National Board of Review awards

    Even more so than the Indie Spirit nods that landed yesterday, the National Board of Review honors are seen by many as the season’s official starting gun — though there are just as many who would question their right to such significance.

    The NBR gets stick on an annual basis for a range of middlebrow sins: their weakness for soft literary awards bait, their unwavering loyalty to Clint Eastwood (watch “Hereafter” aggravate everyone by showing up in tomorrow’s announcement) and their odd concessions to broad studio fare. (They’ll never live down the inclusion of “The Bucket List” — over “There Will Be Blood,” to boot — in the 2007 Top 10.)

    But as ill-advised and frequently obvious as their choices can be, the NBR can occasionally throw us a real curveball: nobody saw Campbell Scott’s Best Actor win for “Roger Dodger” coming in 2002, while the Best Picture hopes of “Quills” began and ended with its out-of-step triumph at the 2000 awards. And remember that if anyone can resist a seemingly sure thing, it’s these guys: last year, this was pretty much the only stop that sweepers Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique missed on the awards track all season.

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  • Taking questions for Oscar Talk

    You know the drill.  We’ll obviously be addressing “True Grit,” so no need to ask anything about that.  PLEASE LIMIT IT TO ONE QUESTION, and steer clear of specifics we’ve already covered.  The fresher the better.  Go!